Cultural Citizenship, Identity Politics and Spaces of Belonging


Music brings people together…and I’m not just talking music festivals






The possibilities of artistic expression are endless...

The possibilities of artistic expression are endless…


5 thoughts on “Cultural Citizenship, Identity Politics and Spaces of Belonging

  1. Pingback: Citizenship Education – Miss Stoyko

  2. Pingback: Cultural Citizenship, Identity Politics and Spaces of Belonging | sillybean5

  3. Reblogged this on sillybean5 and commented:
    Is artistic expression an avenue through which ‘others’ can participate in ‘cultures’ which otherwise exclude them?

    Can art re-enscribe other’d bodies with belonging/humanity/citizenship through the process of democratic participation and the creation of dwelling spaces where the audience is permitted to consume the bodies of participants via the art that they co-creating?

    The article to which Hannah’s post refers suggests this is the case. Referring to an idea of ‘cultural citizenship’ (this being my first encounter with said concept… and so I have yet to unpack it), the Harvard Gazette article posits that the openness with which people receive artistic expression, coupled with artistic media’s ease of translatability ((perhaps, as opposed to other cultural habitus whose semiotic complexity and level of cultivated competency, may render the cultural-newb’s efforts inauthentic?)) means that artistic expression can operate as a sort of levelling ground, a phenomenon where many who might otherwise be denied access to culture can participate in culture, and possibly even an avenue to that culture. Because artistic practice is a language that momentarily supersedes the individual identities of those who participate in it (correct me if I am reading this wrongly, because my imagination interferes with my reading, often)

    As I write this a whole bunch of questions come up about ritual, access, aesthetic taste, identity boundaries, what is culture etc. Does participating in art create a new culture, in which other cultural judgements are suspended? Or does it act as a footnote to existing culture, thereby modifying existing cultural narratives?
    Or does, for example, the racist/sexist/ableist hat simply go back on the head of the privileged in other spheres of culture and thus the moment of artistic expression is but mere respite from the critical gaze of the privileged other?

    What does it mean to say that artistic expression is culture? I am fascinated by the use of the term in the Harvard article. There is something very definite about it’s use that unsettles me. So I need to understand the context to feel better about it.
    Does art really unify? How do we measure that?
    I am sure I will ponder those later. Because I am not supposed to be blogging right now 😛 Oops.

    Here some quotes from the original article:

    “culture becomes “the voice of expression” for many migrating communities because they lack political representation or public recognition”

    My thought stream from this comment: Aka the dominant culture can only handle their otherness when it is suspended in the valour-liquid of entertainment… but then art is a phantastic space, often beyond words, whose constructed necessitates that we suspend our judgement and be imaginative… so maybe we allow the other to be appreciated in the spaces of art, stand beside us as artistic equals, because it is a pretend sphere.
    Ok, no analysis here. Laziness. I clearly have my pessimists hat on for no reason.

    “Panelist Colin Jacobsen, violinist and composer with the ensemble, said the fluid nature and shared language of music contributes to cultural citizenship just about every time the group practices.

    “In order to play with someone else, you have to have a shared common ground on which to stand,” he said. “Each one of us … comes from a particular tradition, but there’s also a common sense of curiosity about what we don’t know, and the desire to reach out and hopefully incorporate that.

    “It doesn’t mean you have to learn everything about another tradition. But you need a sense of courage to leap into the unknown. And in that moment, in that encounter, there’s a desire to not hold on to only what you know, but to try and fully absorb what is in front of you in that moment … and hopefully you then learn and grow as well.”

    Above, Hannah describes the Qwire (Canberra Gay and Lesbian Choir) as the space in which cultural citizenship is enacted in her world.

    Of course, without fully encountering the context of this article, this article has piqued my attention because it includes the idea of democratising dwelling spaces, where the mutual act of purposeful dwelling (play, co-creation, recreation) promotes community.
    Further, the dwelling places that are discussed are those that occur in the practice of artistic expression. I am all over that, like a cupcake. Nom nom.

  4. “There were of course a few people who I felt maybe weren’t so keen to chat to me once they heard I had a boyfriend.” Wait a minute. Isn’t that like totally what most of those people, (but don’t ask me what do I mean by those people because you know) fight against? Judgement based on who you’re doing rather than who you are?

    Isn’t have a Qwire all about breaking down stigma and barriers?

    And hearing great music sung by the unsung heroes? (giggle)

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